Juan A. Rivera Jr. (born October 31, 1972) is an American man who was wrongfully convicted three times for the 1992 rape and murder of 11-year-old Holly Staker in Waukegan, Illinois.

However, the prosecution argued that Staker had been sexually active and the semen sample came from her previous consensual sex with another man.

Because the court ruled that there had been insufficient evidence adduced at trial to sustain a conviction, the Double Jeopardy Clause barred prosecutors from retrying Rivera.

DNA testing conducted on the shoes in 2014 indicated that the blood belonged to Staker, but it also contained another genetic sample.

[3][4] Following his exoneration, Rivera sued the city of Waukegan and Lake County; he was awarded $20 million, at its time, the largest wrongful conviction settlement in United States history.

He was reported as exhibiting general deception during the examination and subsequently admitted that he did lie to the test question about his alibi, but continued to deny any involvement in the death of Holly Staker.

On August 17, 1992, police received a call from a woman in Waukegan, Illinois, who reported that the babysitter for her two children, 11-year-old Holly Staker, was missing and the back door to the apartment had been kicked in.

According to the informant, Rivera told him he was at a party that night near the crime scene and saw a man acting suspiciously.

Rivera was described by the police as friendly and cooperative when he was interviewed and agreed to provide samples of his blood and hair.

Further investigation revealed there was no party at the residence on August 17, leading to greater suspicion of Rivera.

Following the confession, jail personnel saw Rivera, who had a history of mental illness, beating his head against the wall of his cell.

A prison nurse determined that Rivera was in an acute psychotic state and was "not in touch with the reality of what was going on around him".

Electronic monitoring system records showed that Rivera did not leave his home on August 17, 1992.

Phone records also showed a call from Rivera's home to a relative in Puerto Rico that evening.

Defense experts noted that if Staker had intercourse prior to the fatal attack, semen would have been found on her underwear.

[11] The appellate court criticized the confession, noting the complete absence of any information that was not previously known to members of the investigation team.

The prosecution presented two possible theories as to how the DNA could eliminate Rivera: contamination and previous sex with another man.

Simply put, the State's rationalizations of how the DNA from "Unidentified Male #1" came to be found in the victim's body and why none of the defendant's DNA appeared in or around the victim or anywhere at the crime scene cannot save a conviction obtained on a theory of a violent sexual assault and murder.

[11]The trial judge was also criticized for precluding the defense from presenting multiple pieces of exculpatory evidence, including testimony from experts regarding false confessions.

[3] In 2014, former Waukegan police chief Dan Greathouse, who is handling the re-investigation of the Staker case, told Rivera's attorneys that a knife had been found a decade before near the crime scene.

It could have had the real killer's DNA on it, and it could exclude without any doubt the notion that Juan Rivera had anything to do with this case.

To destroy evidence without giving the defense the chance to test it goes against any sense of fairness and justice.Rivera's lawyers said that a forensic expert they consulted ruled that Staker's wounds point to a knife with a serrated blade rather than a straight edge.

An investigation by the defense revealed that the Voit sneakers, made in Hong Kong, were not available for purchase in the United States until sometime after the murder.

The results showed that the blood on the shoes belonged to Staker, and that it contained a second genetic profile — one that matched the semen sample taken from the crime scene.

Thirty-nine-year-old Delwin Foxworth was reportedly attacked by three burglars in his North Chicago home in January 2000.

[4] After serving 20 years in prison, Rivera filed a federal civil rights case against officials of the city of Waukegan and Lake County for wrongful conviction.